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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorDavid Edward Kotecki
Estimating the term…
An electrostatic chuck (ESC) provides increased temperature uniformity and adjustment capability of the surface of a wafer or wafer-like workpiece during processing, for example, in an electron-cyclotron-resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD) reactor. Temperature uniformity is achieved through an improved pattern of grooves in the face of the ESC which allows an inert gas to be contained between the ESC and a wafer held thereby even at high levels of vacuum. The ESC is adapted for a particular desired temperature range by choice of surface roughness of the remaining areas of the face of the ESC. Adjustability within that range is achieved by variation of the electrostatic voltage by which a wafer is held against the chuck face. Increased surface roughness and/or decreased contact area fraction may be used to achieve high wafer temperatures.
An electrostatic chuck for holding a semiconductor wafer during processing thereof in a reactor vessel and presenting a thermal resistance to flow of heat provided to said wafer from a heat source, said electrostatic chuck comprising
A reactor vessel for processing of a semiconductor wafer including
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.